The Blessings of Self-Denial

Second Life lately has taken me from my original purpose in creating this site. I had intended to write about sacred festivals throughout history and throughout the world. Unfortunately, I failed to write about Lughnasa but I will remedy that later. At this point in time, however, it is Ramadhan that dominates the international Calendar.

I would like to wish all those who practice the way of Islam a 'Ramadhan Mubarak' or Blessed Ramadhan. Ramadhan is considered the holiest month in the Islamic calendar and it is a month when fasting during daylight hours is mandated. There are exceptions, when fasting would cause hardship or when health does not permit it. Travel is another exemption. Non-Muslims often are horrified by the concept of a religion that requires a month of fasting, but in fact, fasting is a means of purification and a spiritual act that facilitates 'nearness to God'. Blessings indeed can be obtained through self-denial, but this is a concept that is inimical to our contemporary consumerist society based on principles of instant gratification.

Ramadhan is a time primarily devoted to acts of charity. In fasting, the rich are reminded of the reality of life for the poor and are prompted to share their blessings with those who are less fortunate. That is one of the reasons for 'Saum' or fasting.

The other is a more universal reason. Fasting creates a special state of consciousness, a distance between the individual and his/her appetites as well as ordinary routines. During the month of Ramadhan, Muslims awaken before dawn not only for prayer but in order to eat before the beginning of the fast each day. This sets them apart from their normal routines. Special food often is prepared for this 'fast-breaking' or breakfast.

As the day progresses, whenever one thinks about food, one is reminded of the fast and this is designed to bring renewed awareness of the sacred nature of this particular month. The internal battle between the physical appetite and the spiritual ambition is one that brings a sense of great satisfaction whenever won by the strength of the spirit.

Thoughts of food are very much part of Ramadhan. Fasting only is mandated during daylight hours and when the sun sets, people break their fast with a date and a prayer. Often, people prepare very special dishes for the evening meal and it is considered more of a blessing to share food with others than to eat alone during this month. Treats are shared both at mosques and in private homes. Ramadhan is a very joyful time.

It is the unique rhythm of the days and nights of Ramadhan, however, that truly set it apart from the rest of the year. There is a sense both of individual closeness to God and participation in the worldwide community known as the Ummah.

The Islamic Calendar is a lunar calendar. Ramadhan therefore falls at a different time each year and through a decade, can move from winter to summer. This again is something that sets it apart from the ordinary wheel of the year and the change in seasons.

As the Islamic Calendar is based on the Moon, the actual sighting of the crescent Moon or hilal is the signal for the beginning of Ramadhan. Those who live in urban environments often become estranged from the Moon and planets. Ramadhan is a time for a renewal of awareness of the phases of the Moon and the movement of all celestial bodies.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Moon is more than a barren rock whirling through space. It affects the tides of earthly seas and the internal tides of every woman. In very hot climates, where the Sun often represents a threat to life, the Moon is a gentle vision reflecting light upon the earth and acts as a guide for travelers. The Moon always has been an inspiration to poets and lovers.

Living according to a solar calendar, we often forget the importance of the Moon in terms of history and civilisation. The 'Crescent' that is a symbol for Islam is, in fact, the crescent moon. Universally, the Moon symbolises both death and rebirth. In its monthly disappearance and reappearance, it was a sign of hope to the ancients. The Moon as well as the Morning and Evening Star Venus traditionally represented the Great Goddess.

The tale of Inanna and her visit to the Underworld is a lunar myth of course. The Goddess set her heart on the 'great beyond' and, while in the land of Death, the earth mourned and was barren. When she returned, the earth rejoiced and life was renewed. The re-enactment of this great journey was one of the most sacred rituals of Sumer and Babylon.

Ramadhan, however, cannot be considered a 'lunar festival' by any means, although the Moon is very much in evidence. It has more in common with the Christian observance of Lent, also a time of fasting, charity and contemplation.

I think we often forget the virtues of self-denial. The lightning speed of communication via internet as well as our ability to order an item from any source in the world and have it delivered to our doorsteps within a day or two do not lend themselves to self-denial.

If an experience is pleasurable, it is natural to want to repeat it. People often speak with contempt about religious constraints. I certainly do not subscribe to the idea that individuals should deny themselves anything from fear of divine consequences. On the other hand, 'fear of hell' has proven the worst enemy of religion in that individuals in repudiation have failed to comprehend the intrinsic virtues in acts of denial.

Fasting makes one more aware of the satisfaction and delight that food and drink can bring. It heightens all the senses in fact. It is temporary self-denial, a means through which individuals can ascend to another level of being.

All religions embrace fasting as a tool for purification and transformation. It is not a practice that is retricted to 'monotheists' by any means. Buddhists and Hindus practice fasting as do neo-Pagans.

Perhaps each of us should fast for a day during this month in order to appreciate the blessings in our own lives and to fully comprehend the magic of a simple act of self-denial. If one fasts from sunrise to sunset, one becomes very aware of the movement of the sun across the sky and sunset becomes far more beautiful and vibrant than it otherwise would be.

The ancient runemasters had a special rune that represented the moment of transformation that occurs at sunrise and sunset, when Night becomes Day and Day becomes night. As a point of intersection of opposites, it carries enormous magical potential.

For my part, having written this, I am conscious of all the sunrises and sunsets that I have 'wasted' by not even being aware of them... conscious of all the times when I have failed to experience the 'magic of the moment'. Even if I cannot fast now, I hope I can experience that rare sense of transcending all limitations to soar with the eagle and the hawk to the heavens once again. To me, 'nearness to God' is a sense of being one with the Universe, of feeling the breath of the Divine in the wind, and the touch of the Divine in the warm caress of the Sun. It is the rare moment when any sense of alienation dissolves and is replaced by utter contentment and acceptance of being.

The Gods of Law and Order

Inherent in many spiritual traditions is the idea that the god to be worshipped most highly is he/she who created order from chaos. Isis is extolled as she who created the first laws and taught the Egyptians all the skills of civilisation. In similar fashion, many of the holy 'me' or divine attributes conferred upon the Great Sumerian Goddess Inanna deal with 'law and order'.

The old Vedic gods are deities who brought order and law to the world. Certainly the Iranian Zoroaster was a bringer of law and order to his people. Much of the Bible and Qur'an is filled with laws and regulations purportedly dictated to the prophets by Jehovah or Allah. Why is it that humanity worships those who, by regulating their lives, restrict their freedom of will?

There are a number of modern philosophers who have rebelled against the traditions that elevate Order above Chaos. Even so, it appears to me that there are two separate threads that run through religions. One is sociological, even political. The other is spiritual. I would suggest that all sociological and political concerns be divorced from our concept of divinity and that we recognise the fundamentally human nature of these concerns. Religion should be personal, not a means by which human beings seek to control other human beings.

The Pentagram and the Sacred Circle

The United States finally has capitulated and has given official recognition to the the five-pointed star or pentagram as a religious symbol. The pentagram is one of the oldest magical symbols known to humanity. Although it has been interpreted in many different ways, it is best known perhaps as a symbol used in magical circles and by neo-Pagans as an icon of Wicca.

The Book of Solomon contains a number of spells involving the pentagram. For Wiccans, the five-pointed star is the symbol of the four elements with a fifth force, known as Akasha or Spirit. It is worn by contemporary pagans as a religious icon, much as Christians wear a cross or crucifix. In actual magical practices, most Pagans use the pentagram only when creating a sacred circle. For ceremonial magicians, however, the pentagram is a vital component in almost every ritual.

Although the Pagan movement has been growing for decades in the West, the U.S. government refused to allow Pagans to recognise it as a valid religion until now. A lawsuit has ended with the surrender of the government on this point.

Ironically, although the government perceived it as a negative icon with Satanic connotations, the pentagram always has been one of the first symbols that children learn to draw. It is a star that can be drawn without lifting the pencil.

In ancient times, it was the symbol of Inanna or Ishtar, Queen of Heaven. To the Pythagoreans, the five-pointed star represented perfection. Those who worshipped Kore or Ceres recognised the pentagram as her special symbol.

The pentagram is found in Nature in the apple, a fruit that has enjoyed great symbolic significance. When an apple is cut, the seeds form a perfect pentagram with a seed at each point of the 'star'. It is this characteristic that probably was responsible for the appearance of apples in so many sacred myths, from the apple in the Garden of Eden to the apples of immortality guarded by Iduna.

To the ignorant, the pentagram is perceived as a symbol of Satanism or evil in the same way as the Sowilo rune and swastika are perceived as symbols invented by the Nazis. In point of fact, all these sacred symbols can be found as far back as the neolithic age, carved on rocks and the walls of caves and inscribed on wood and stone tools, weapons and jewelry. These symbols were woven into cloth as well and can be found throughout the world.

Satanism is a rather curious late development. Essentially, it is not an original religion but was conceived as a form of rebellion against Christianity. Its thrust, therefore was to denigrate and overturn Christian symbols and Christian rituals.
Even the 'Black Mass' is founded in the Catholic sacrament of the Mass in an inverted form. It therefore is not a true religion and should be taken 'cum grano salis', with a grain of salt.

Magicians like Anton LeVay and Aleister Crowley are responsible for the heightened popular interest in Satanism. Aleister Crowley began his magical studies as a Ceremonial Magician, studying with practitioners of the Golden Dawn movement, but his prediliction for dramatic social rebellion soon led him into Satanic practices. Anton LeVay, on the other hand, was a true Satanist, author of the Satanic Bible.

Although Satanists maintain that their religion is a legitimate one and is not simply a rebellion against Christianity, the entire dogma of Satanism is filled with references to Christian beliefs. It is, in essence, Christianity inverted.

What makes Satanism attractive to some is its egocentric foundation, the idea that 'I am my own God' and that any and all desires and wants are to be encouraged. There are no 'sins' and there is no reason to refrain from pursuing all instincts.

The old system of balance that existed in the Dionysian religion does not exist in Satanism. Like Satanism, Dionysian rituals included sex magic, but unlike Satanism, sex magic in Dionysian ritual fulfilled specific purposes and was restricted to specific times. To some extent, Satanists like LeVay misappropriated some of the principles of the old mystery religion of Dionysus and Pan and perverted them to create a system that embraces unbridled self-gratification. In fairness to LeVay, however, his work maintains that all acts are to be embraced insofar as they 'hurt no one'. The exception to this rule is voluntary submission to hurt or damage.

Popular media has made the inverted pentagram the symbol of Satanism although, in point of fact, it is a legitimate magical symbol without connotations of evil.

As a matter of fact, the pentagram was recognised by Christianity as a spiritual symbol in the Middle Ages. In Arthurian romance, the shield of Sir Gawain carried on it a pentagram. For medieval Christians, the pentagram symbolised the five wounds of Christ as well as the five senses. Used in amulets and talismans, often the letters S A L V S were incribed in the points of the pentagram. It was considered then, as now, to be a potent protective device.

A magical circle is a Sacred Space. Pagans and other magicians often create a magical circle by drawing a pentagram within a circle, pronouncing the names of each element as each point of the star is drawn. A Sacred Space can be used for any ritual, from prayer to meditation to magical 'work'. Like the prayer rug in Islam, it is a place that is reserved for spiritual practice.

The pentagram is a symbol that is used by Morocco on its flag as well as coins. Many individuals both in the Arab Nation and in the West therefore use Moroccan coins as amulets and talismans, and use them in jewelry and belts. It is by no means exclusively a Wiccan symbol, although Wicca has taken the pentagram as its official symbol.

Official recognition of the pentagram will not dispel ignorance completely, but it is a step in the right direction. May the Star of Knowledge shine more brilliantly to bring blessings to all humanity!

Sitting on a Mound

It is curious to find that, throughout all the academic works that deal with the ancient tale of the Descent of Inanna or Ishtar to the Underworld, no one appears to have mentioned the obvious: communion with the dead.

The extraordinary tale of the Great Queen who abandons this world in order to journey down the 'one-way road' is most compelling perhaps when it is perceived as a spiritual vision quest, rather like Odhinn's shamanic trials, all undertaken for the sake of knowledge and wisdom.

Odhinn hanged himself from the World-Tree Yggdrasil, 'myself a sacrifice to my self'. He pierced his side with his spear, letting the blood flow freely, then spent nine nights on the tree awaiting the moment of Illumination. When it came, 'screaming he took up the Runes'. This is the tale that explains how the Runes came into being.

In another tale, Odhinn travels to the Well of Urdh at the roots of Yggdrasil and asks for a drink of the sacred waters. The price is high: he must pluck out his own eye and offer it as sacrifice. He does so without hesitation. Nowhere is there any tale of Odhinn's cowardice or reluctance in the face of danger. There are those who say that this tale represents an essential truth: that by placing his eye in the Well of Wisdom, he gained vision of the Unseen realms and the world of the unconscious.

In any event, the tale of Inanna's descent represents a personal tale of spiritual enlightenment to most contemporary readers and indeed, like all great myths and fairytales, it can have many different valid interpretations.

At the heart of this tale, however, is an ancient ritual for the dead. In many civilisations, it was believed that the dead were not entirely absent from this world. Even when an afterlife in some Paradise existed, it was believed that the dead could be summoned to communicate with the living.

The tale of Mot and Ba'al depicts the All-father El himself presiding over a funeral feast for the dead. In similar fashion, the ostensible reason for Inanna's journey to the Underworld is in order to attend a funeral ritual for her sister's husband, the 'Bull of Heaven'.

Evidently, there were rituals of preparation that had to occur. As Inanna passed each gate, she was stripped of another piece of regalia, another symbol of power. When she finally arrived at the palace of Ereshkigal, she was naked.

Iceland is a place where old Northern European pagan beliefs endured longer than anywhere else. The practice of 'sitja a haugi' in old Norse ('to sit on a howe') was widespread in the old pagan North but is described mainly in Icelandic sagas.

An old law code of Norway describes the practice of 'útiseta' or útiseta at vekja troll upp': 'to sit out and wake up the dead'. It appears that 'útiseta' was a general shamanic ritual designed to gain esoteric wisdom, but sitting on the howes of one's ancestors was a more specific quest to communicate with the spirits of one's own dead.

I had intended simply to post the old tales on my site, but when I began to think about this ancient almost universal practice, it occurred to me how far and remote we are in contemporary Western society from OUR dead.

Is it any wonder that people are so insecure, so desperate for a guide, when Death has become such a stranger to our daily lives? Some of us do not have any physical access whatsoever to the graves of our ancestors on a regular basis. Travel and 'urban sprawl' have distanced graveyards and cemetaries from the people who have any emotional or familial tie to them.

Gone are the days when the dead were placed in the centre of the parlour or other chamber of a private home for viewing. Death has become a bureaucratic nightmare in Western civilisation for the most part.

In many civilisations, small hills or mountains were constructed as homes for the dead. As part of the Earth and yet apart from the earth, these mounds still dot the landscapes in many different lands. They served to give renown to the family of the deceased, naturally but they had a far greater significance. They were the site of ritual events designed to link this world with the next.

In contemporary Western society, we tend to fear Death. Death is perceived as 'unnatural', a fate to be avoided as long as possible. How can a society based on fear of Death have any valid basis when every single member WILL be obliged to face Death sooner or later?

Governments actually legislate against death, banning suicide and suicide pacts, banning 'mercy killings' and punishing those who dare to act on the principle that quality of life is more important than life itself.

Those who believe truly in a life after Death should not fear Death, for according to most religions, the Afterlife offers something far better than THIS world. Yet most individuals in the West, even when their religions extol the virtues of the Afterlife, are almost desperate to avoid it.

The ancient Romans placed the death masques of their ancestors on their walls. The ancient Celts collected human skulls. The ancient Sumerians, Babylonians and Canaanites held ritual feasts for their dead. If one sups with Death on a regular basis, one cannot fear him too much.

Moreover, there is a certain ineffable peace and stillness in places that are consecrated to the dead. It is no wonder really that poets and philosophers have haunted graveyards and mounds when seeking inspiration.

In the North, government assemblies actually met often on burial mounds. The leader or king would be given the place of honour at the top of the mound. As far as rituals of 'mound sitting' are concerned, however, they essentially involved solitary communion with the spirits of the dead.

When Inanna began her journey to the Underworld, she took leave of her closest companion and servant, giving her detailed instructions as to what she should do should the Queen fail to return. Most shamanic rituals are solitary ones, but there usually is some one who watches over the shaman from a distance, making certain of his/her return.

Inanna took the 'one-way road' fully intending to return. In the tale of Mot and Ba'al, the lord of the Dead visits the living at their banquet, but then commands that the living lord attend him at HIS feast in the Underworld.

These ancient rituals were performed for the benefit of all society. There was a deep sense of connection between the worlds: between the sky, the mountain and the pit beneath the mountain. Like the ancient Egyptians who constructed vast artificial mountains in the forms of pyramids, the ancient mounds were created as a focal point for a meeting of the worlds.

Another reason I believe that the tale of Inanna's descent deals with an ancient mound and a ritual for the dead is the name used for her destination. An Akkadian
version of the tale begins: 'To Kurnugi, land of no return...' The Sumerian version speaks of 'Neti, gatekeeper of the Kur'. Kur originally signified 'Mountain'. Later, it signified the Mountain that was the entrance to the Underworld, through which the 'river of Death' flowed.

The entrance to Mot's palace was in a mountain. In fact, there is an old tale about Canaan that predicts a time in the future when the old god Mot will arise and burst forth from his mountain to destroy the invaders of his land.

In old Europe, it was at the feast of Samhain that the gates between the worlds opened. Hallowe-en originally signified a sacred ritual for the dead, a means by which the living remembered and communicated with their loved ones and ancestors.

What has become of this sense of community? Perhaps contemporary 'alienation' is partly caused by the rift between life and death in our society. Surely an individual who believes himself or herself to be part of an unbroken line that stretches from past to present and into the future cannot ever feel entirely abandoned or alone.

I am not a morbid person by nature but I do envy the Ancients their easy familiarity with Death. After all, any of us could be fated to face Death at any moment.